If you were to ask anyone in the know about graphics cards, the name “Nvidia” would likely pop up. That’s because Nvidia has been putting out excellent graphics cards for a few years now. Not too long ago, Nvidia released the GeForce GTX 560 Ti (GeForce). It’s easy to see that Nvidia took a different approach when developing this graphics card, since the card isn’t too expensive and does appeal to the energy-saving masses. This card also comes with some decent performance benchmarks.

What the GeForce Has to Offer Performance-Wise

More often than not, the purchase of a graphics card has to do with gaming. If you’re in the market for a good gaming card, the GeForce did perform very well during testing clocking in around 20 frames per second. This means that those gaming graphics will be clear and precise, and not too many other graphics cards on the market can outperform this one. Granted, Radeon does make some graphics cards that will put Nvidia’s GeForce to the test, but this reviewer thinks that you’ll be happy with the GeForce outcome.

Another tried and tested benchmark that the GeForce met well with is the tessellation benchmark. For those who aren’t familiar with tech-speak, tessellation refers to how well shapes can fit together without showing off any gaps – seemingly, tessellation isn’t the important, but it means the difference between crystal clear graphics and graphics that appear fuzzy or distorted. Overall, the GeForce did perform very well and often outdid other graphics cards in its class. Now, onto that energy consumption part that many consumers today are actually seeking.

Overall Energy Consumption

Nvidia made the GeForce to please all of the energy conscious consumers out there. When sitting untouched, the GeForce consumes up to 111 Watts of power. Most other cards in its class idle at around 100, so the GeForce does go a bit over the top of the others in its class. Of course, few cards sit idle without actually performing, so it’s important to look at the energy consumption of any card while performing. When fully loaded, the GeForce consumed around 300 Watts, which is still quite respectable. You can find cards on the market that consume less energy both while idle and while running, but this one really does weigh in on the lower side and that’s always a good thing.

It’s also important to point out that while graphics cards should not consumer too much energy, you don’t want to scrap graphics performance in order to purchase a more energy efficient card. Taking this into consideration, the GeForce might not be the most energy efficient (though it is really quite good), but it does perform (and out-perform) other cards in its class and price range – something to think about.

Speaking of price-range, it’s nice to note that Nvidia priced this card on the reasonably side. You can pick up a GeForce card for around $250, which is a very decent price for an excellent card, in this reviewer’s opinion.